NFL Football Betting: Detroit Lions at Washington Redskins

The NFL preseason is underway and it’s a great time to make some money–assuming you know what you’re doing. Betting preseason NFL action is completely different than the regular season. It’s not getting any easier–at one point, the ‘public’ never seemed to grasp that preseason football was a completely different animal. Lines reflected the public’s ignorance and the ‘wise guys’ cleaned up. Sports betting ‘squares’ are getting smarter across the board and no where is this more clearly reflected than in preseason football.

That being said, the public is still, well, the public. They still place too much emphasis on a team’s ‘reputation’ or the ‘takes’ they hear on mainstream sports talk radio. This looks like a good spot to take advantage of incorrect public perception even if the linesmakers have this game pegged correctly. Long known as one of the elite franchises in the NFL, the Washington Redskins have hit the skids. The optimism that surrounded the team after they drafted Robert Griffin III has evaporated as the once mobile quarterback has been decimated by injuries. The reality is that RG III may never be the same again. Instead of protecting him, the Skins’ coaching staff has almost looked masochistic in their failure to protect RG III and a porous offensive line hasn’t helped. Washington is a mess–they’re on a 7-25 SU/10-22 ATS overall in the regular season including 5-11 SU/ATS at home.

So why are the Skins favored here? Two reasons. This is a case where they’re much more ‘marketable’ as a favorite due to their dismal record as an underdog in recent years (3-22 SU/7-18 ATS run getting points). More significantly, like any number of bad teams in all sports they have a tendency to create false hope among their fans during the preseason. This is especially true in their home preseason opener–the Skins have won and covered six straight in this spot.

No reason that they can’t make it 7 in a row SU/ATS. Detroit is a better team but they don’t really care about preseason and are feeling too good about themselves defensively after allowing only 3 points a week ago.

BET WASHINGTON REDSKINS -3 OVER DETROIT LIONS